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Hillary Clinton Holds Press Conference in California; NASA's New Ship; Obama's Church Sets up Dialogue on Race

Aired April 03, 2008 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: So, your bosses shouldn't threaten to wreck your career just for doing your job, especially when your job is inspecting airplanes. Today, inspectors who blew the whistle making noise on Capitol Hill.
Also, space shuttles won't be flying forever. Well, when they're done, then what? NASA has a new ship waiting in wings, but investigators worry it will never get off the ground. Our Miles O'Brien has the lowdown for us.

Well, hello there, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

Well, is a cozy relationship between airlines and the government putting airline passengers at risk? That's what two whistle-blowers told a congressional committee today. The two FAA safety inspectors say they were pressured to ignore problems at Southwest Airlines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS PETERS, SAFETY INSPECTOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: June 11, 2007 at approximately 1:00 p.m., acting manager Bobby Hedlund stopped by my office. That was during the time frame of the FAA's initial internal investigation of the A. D. overflight.

I was typing my written statement to FAA security special agent Jay LaFlare (ph), and I informed Hedlund that I would be sending him a memo regarding unethical actions taking place by inspectors in the Southwest CMO. He agreed to look into the matter once he received the memo.

Before Hedlund left my office, I told him that I thought writing my concerns about unethical actions was the right thing to do. He stated and agreed that we should always do the right thing. And that's what his father had always told him to do.

He got out of the chair, walked over to my bookcase, where I keep pictures in frames. He picked up a picture of my son that was taken next to an aircraft and said, "This is what's important: family and flying." He then pointed to a picture of my family and said, again, This is what's important.

On his way out the door, he made the following statement: "You have a good job here. Your wife has a good job over at the Dallas FSDO. I would hate to see you jeopardize yours and hers career, trying to take down a couple of losers."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, the House Transportation chairman there said it's time for a top to bottom house cleaning at the FAA.

Well, a federal bond hearing scheduled this hour for the Jamaican accused of checking pipe bomb parts into a flight out of Orlando. Kevin Christopher Brown is a U.S. Army veteran who recently worked as a contractor in Iraq. Friends and family describe him as psychologically troubled, not a terrorist.

Brown was arrested Tuesday after arriving for a flight to Montego Bay. He allegedly told authorities he wanted to teach his Jamaican friends how to build the kinds of bombs he saw in Iraq.

Well, a story we have been keeping an eye on for the past hour or so, a situation happening in Zimbabwe. Of course, we have been keeping an eye there over the past week or so after elections took place there and some uncertainty about that country's future.

Well, now we're getting word that the security forces of Zimbabwe, several of them and police have actually raided a hotel in Harare. That's capital there in Zimbabwe, raided the hotel and have seized some journalists. We're told that these were unaccredited journalists.

This happened at a hotel again there in the capital that has been used by foreign journalists for some time, and many there of course on assignment to cover what's been happening there with the elections.

Now, the Zimbabwe government is denying -- has denied CNN and other news agencies permission to enter the country and to report on those elections and what's been happening in those elections. The president there has been in office seeking a sixth term here. And the opposition party has already been saying even before the votes were counted and results were released that, in fact, that they would actually not accept any other results other than their opposition party winning.

So, Mugabe is trying to hold on to power. So, still a lot of back and forth about what's happening there and what's going to happen with that historic election. But now a raid has happened. And it appears that some foreign journalists have been taken into custody. We will keep an eye on that as well.

Also, back to this country and its situation. There you see, Senator Hillary Clinton giving some comments at the Burbank Airport.

We'll take a listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, there's a distinction. If you look at what I believe Senator McCain is referring to, obviously, we have had troops in South Korea for a very long time. We have had troops in Germany for a very long time. They have been there to stabilize and keep the peace and be prepared for what might happen in the future.

But I think the larger point here is, there certainly is no appetite in the American public for us to keep troops in Iraq for up to 100 years. So, that's going to be a distinction between Senator McCain and myself.

Yes.

QUESTION: Two questions for you. First question, another money question, your campaign has admitted that you're being outspent two to one in Pennsylvania.

CLINTON: Sometimes three to one, four to one, five to one.

QUESTION: OK. I think it was two to one.

First off, are you concerned about a mismatch there? And, secondly, Senator Obama seemed to downplay Pennsylvania yesterday, saying that he's actually Rocky, the underdog. How do you respond to that?

CLINTON: Well, I'm glad he's competing hard in Pennsylvania, because it's a really important state. It's a state that Democrats have to win. You can't get to Pennsylvania Avenue if you don't go through Pennsylvania.

It's going to be a close contest. We're both working very hard. He's just finished a long bus tour. He obviously is putting a lot of emphasis on Pennsylvania. So am I. I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm going to work as hard as I can.

And I am being outspent. I haven't seen final numbers. But I think I was outspent four to one in Ohio and three to one in Texas. And, goodness, I think I was outspent five to one in Rhode Island. So, I'm being -- used to being outspent. So, actually, that Rocky theme sort of is more in line with what I believe the race looks like right now.

Yes.

QUESTION: Yesterday, Senator Obama said that he would give Al Gore a position in his Cabinet or a central role in his administration, especially when it comes to global warming. Do you think that they're getting ready to cut a deal? Are you worried about that? And would you give Gore a position in your Cabinet?

CLINTON: Well, I wish Al Gore were in the seventh year of his second term. I really think our country would be so much better off had Vice President Gore been elected president.

And I think we have seen what a difference a president can make in terms of the misplaced priorities and the failures of the Bush administration. I am very dependent upon the work that Al Gore has done for so many years on behalf of climate change, but also other areas. His reinventing government initiative, his reaching out to countries in a very formal way to develop relationship when he was vice president, I think, are tremendously useful models.

And I would be certainly pleased to have his involvement in any way that he would want to be involved. And I don't know whether he would be interested in going back into government or not. But I think the American people would welcome that because of his incredible record of service and his obvious understanding of the problems we're facing today.

He's always been about the future and the challenges that America must overcome in order for us to have a prosperous and peaceful future. And I think that he can make a contribution in so many ways to our country and certainly to my administration.

Yes, Perry (ph)?

QUESTION: Senator Clinton, did you tell Governor Richardson Barack Obama can't win?

CLINTON: You know, we have been going back and forth in this campaign about who said what to whom. And let me say this about that.

I don't talk about private conversations, but I have consistently made the case that I can win, because I believe I can win. And, sometimes, people draw the conclusion I'm saying somebody else can't win. I can win. I know I can win. That's why I do this every day. And that's what my campaign is about. I'm in it to win it. And I intend to do just that. That's a no.

Yes?

QUESTION: Oh, thank you. There was a spate of bad economic news this morning regarding inflation, manufacturing, construction spending. Could just you comment more specifically on that, please?

CLINTON: Well, and add to that what Chairman Bernanke said the other day, that he predicts negative growth, maybe even two consecutive -- consecutive quarters of negative growth, which, by any definition, is a recession.

HOLMES: Listening to Hillary Clinton there taking some questions from reporters on everything from the former Vice President Al Gore to the economy there, also some comments about McCain and his ability to handle the economy, as well as his statements about Iraq in the past during this campaign. So keeping an eye on that. She's actually in California for a fund-raiser even though of course all eyes on Pennsylvania coming up in a couple of weeks for the primary there.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

HOLMES: We want to turn now back to the latest on what we have been seeing in Zimbabwe following the elections there. And now there seems to be a bit of unrest and some confusion about some journalists being taken out and into custody.

Our Robin Curnow is with us from Johannesburg.

Robin, what can you tell us is going on there?

ROBIN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Well, just first and foremost, the reason I'm coming to you from Johannesburg in South Africa, which is a neighboring country, to Zimbabwe is because CNN and many other international broadcasters and newspapers are banned from covering the news in Zimbabwe, which is why many foreign journalists snuck into Zimbabwe illegally. You need accreditation from the government to work there.

They have been reporting under the radar, so to speak, from Zimbabwe. Now, it seems like the security police, riot police, have cracked down on a number of foreign journalists who have been working there without accreditation.

We understand that at least one hotel and maybe more holding and housing foreign journalists has been raided. We know that the police were looking for foreign journalists with an aim to arrest them.

At this stage, we don't know if any journalists have been detained. But we can tell you that the situation is tense in Zimbabwe. And as well as the journalists in our area, we are hearing from the opposition party, the party that claims they have won this election, and that their offices have also been raided by security police.

So, all of those -- that information together gives a sense that it's definitely hotting (ph) up in Zimbabwe. The government seems reluctant to call this election, and that's because many people say that they have lost both the presidential, the senate and the parliamentary election, and this could be the end game for Robert Mugabe, the man who has led Zimbabwe for 28 years. So, all in all, it seems like perhaps the tipping point in Zimbabwe is imminent.

HOLMES: All right, Robin Curnow keeping an eye on the story for us there. Robin, we will probably be checking back in with you. But thank you so much.

Well, folks, it doesn't seem like it's been that long ago, but it has. Can you believe 40 years? We will be looking back at the killing that shook the world four decades ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, it seems like yesterday to some folks. But it's hard to fully recall the anguish America faced on April 4, 1968.

Already reeling from war and discontent, much of the country was sitting down to dinner when shocking news spread from Memphis, Tennessee. Civil rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed.

And joining us now from Memphis, CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

Soledad, good afternoon to you, kind ma'am. How are you doing? (CROSSTALK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm doing very well. I love the way you always call me ma'am, T.J. You know that.

You know what we have found really interesting as we were investigating for this documentary was to see how all the accounts over the last 40 years, all the testimony, all the confessions that were later recanted, books that were written, things that people told other people that we were able to track down to see how they sort of all wove together.

James Earl Ray, the theory goes, and I know you know this, ditched the bundle in the rooming house door because he saw a cop coming. And we were able to track down, T.J., that officer, who didn't even realize it until we told him. He was sitting outside the fire station. Word came across that Martin Luther King had been shot. He hopped out of the car, went straight down right toward where James Earl Ray would be coming out of the rooming house.

And what he did probably by about 12 feet missed him, because one moment he gets a call on the radio, and he turns around and he goes back. And in that moment, James Earl Ray ditches the bundle. And that bundle is the only thing that ties Ray to the murder of Martin Luther King.

He's able to get out of town, as you know, and get out of the country as well. And, so, it's that moment in history that is so remarkable. One witness said that James Earl Ray said that that was his only mistake.

But James Earl Ray's own attorneys actually did not have a particularly high opinion of their own client. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A nebbish, always was. That was my impression of him throughout, that he was the invisible man.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): But try to ask him a hard question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would act as if he were someone trying to think of an answer. Criminals, cons will do that. We never had any real confidence in the truthfulness of what he said.

S. O'BRIEN: The one thing Ray would not discuss, even with his lawyers, was the murder of Martin Luther King.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We never, never were able to evoke any kind of reaction from James Earl Ray one way or the other about Dr. King or his life or otherwise.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: So, T.J., you could see why conspiracy theories abound, even today, 40 years later. The government -- under J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI was seeking not only to discredit, but to absolutely destroy Martin Luther King. They wanted to encourage him to commit suicide. They had spies everywhere. I mean, Andrew Young laughed about how they could really pick out the FBI spies.

So, they all wore these skinny little ties, so they stuck out. And the newspapers had given out the address and the room number for Dr. King's room as he stayed at the Lorraine Motel. So, years later, all these unanswered questions contribute to the mystery that still exists today -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. It is amazing that 40 years later we're still learning things about what happened then.

And Soledad O'Brien in New York right now -- I placed you in Memphis. So, forgive me there. But we look forward...

S. O'BRIEN: I will be there tomorrow, and I was there yesterday.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: So --

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: So that's why I'm trying to put you back there already.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly.

HOLMES: But that's why I call you ma'am all the time. I grew up in west Memphis.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: I know. Yes, I know. And I love it. You know I love it.

HOLMES: Forgive me. Forgive me.

All right. Well, good to see you. We look forward to seeing all that from you from Memphis, Soledad. Thank you so much.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: And folks, tonight, special prime-time CNN, "Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination," 9:00 Eastern. You don't want to miss this.

And if you would like watch video clips of tonight's special, get behind-the-scenes perspectives from CNN correspondent and producers, you can check out CNN.com special report "Black in America." You can also get much more on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That address, CNN.com/blackinamerica.

And something else for you here. Where were you when you heard the news of Dr. King's assassination? It's one of the moments etched in the nation's memory. You can record and share your memories for us at ireport.com.

Well, this probably sounds like a cool idea, right? The U.S. returns to the moon. Now we're learning that's a lot easier said than done. We will tell you about the problems at NASA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HOLMES: We turn back to some politics now and targeting Pennsylvania. And it's white working-class men. We will tell you why Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are working so hard to win over the white guys.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, it's 3:30 here on the East Coast. And here are three of the stories. At least eight people are dead, including one infant after a middle of the night house fire in Rock Way, Pennsylvania. Two other people still missing and presumed dead.

ATA Airlines filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations, stranding thousands of passengers. The low-cost carrier based in Indianapolis had 50 daily flights and more than 2,000 employees.

We're waiting for a verdict from a British inquest jury that's been investigating the 1997 death of Princess Diana. The coroner has ruled out conspiracy theories involving Prince Phillip and British secret agents.

Barack Obama's Chicago church is calling for a better dialogue on race in America. This in light of the uproar over the church's former leader and his racially charged sermons. Our Susan Roesgen joins us now live from Chicago.

Good afternoon to you Susan.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, T.J.

I'm actually in the sanctuary of Trinity United Church. This is really the epicenter of this whole racial debate here in this political season in the United States now.

Behind me is the pulpit where Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor, actually gave the sermons that both encouraged his congregation and infuriated his critics. Today a group of national church leaders came here to support the church, to defend the church and also to say that this church feels besieged by the public and harassed by reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(AUDIO GAP) REV. OTIS MOSS, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: Running up to parishioners with microphones, television cameras and recording devices seeking on-the-spot interviews as they are approaching the church. Using our sick and shut-in list to randomly call members who are recovering from surgery, who are in hospice and who have -- and who are in the hospital, disregarding our protocol for media wanting to attend church services and sneaking into the sanctuary to observe and to interview parishioners during the midst of the worship experience. All of the above things happened during our holy week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: Now, besides that, T.J., besides the rudeness of some reporters here who were overeager to get a story, the church also said that it has received bomb threats and they have increased security here. On the 18th of May, these national church leaders, the National Council of Churches and the National United Church of Christ plan to have in all their congregations a national dialogue on race.

By the way, T.J., I've got Isaiah on the Bible behind me, Isaiah chapter 42, verse one, "Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nation."

That's what this congregation says it wants, justice, after their former pastor has been vilified for his remarks in this political season -- T.J.

HOLMES: I can only imagine that church has been bombarded with all the attention on that particular pastor.

Susan Roesgen for us there in Chicago. We do appreciate you Susan.

And tonight folks, I want to let you know about a special primetime event happening on CNN, "Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination" at 9:00 Eastern. You do not want to miss this special, a lot of new information even though this happened 40 years ago, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, a lot of new information still coming to light and you're going to see some of it tonight.

If you'd like to watch video clips of that special, get behind- the-scenes perspectives from the CNN correspondents and producers, go to CNN.com special report, "Black in America," also get a lot more information on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that address again CNN.com/blackinamerica.

Right now in Orlando, the man accused of having bomb parts in his check-in airline luggage due in Federal court. Friends and family say Jamaican-born Kevin Brown is troubled, but he is not a terrorist.

Sean Callebs shows us how this all went down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kevin Brown's arrest unfolded in very public fashion at Orlando's airport. But Federal authorities say it was keen instinct and training that tipped off TSA officers that something was up. Behavioral detection officer Cleveland Laycock first noticed Brown was acting suspicious.

Was there one thing that stands out that was doing that brought you concern? Was it a tick? Was it a slip? Can you just give us some feeling for what he was doing?

CLEVELAND LAYCOCK, TSA BEHAVIORAL DETECTION MGR: Once again, it's that behavior outside of the normalcy. It's that slight elevation in the stress and fear and deception.

CALLEBS: TSA officers say they watched Brown as he made his way to the ticket counter of Air Jamaica.

LAYCOCK: He dropped his checked baggage off and we began to go through his bags and that's when the suspect items came up.

CALLEBS: The criminal complaint against Brown, who was born in Jamaica, says authorities found galvanized pipes, end caps, bottles containing nitro methane, other bottles filled with BBs and a model rocket igniter as well as manuals on how to build a bomb.

JOSE ZENGOTITA, TSA BEHAVIORAL DETECTION OFFICER: Reflecting on what happened, today it's more of a, wow, that was in the bag. At that moment, no, it was more let's move along. Let's make sure we've got this guy under surveillance and that we don't drop the ball here.

CALLEBS: Brown has been charged with attempting to carry an incendiary device on an aircraft. His legs shackled, wearing a white prison jump suit, Brown was silent during his first Federal court appearance Wednesday. Prosecutors said they needed more time to make a mental health evaluation of the suspect before discussing the possibility of bond.

Brown's public defender left court refusing to comment, but investigators say he told them he was going to show friends how to make explosive devices like he saw in Iraq. Brown served in the U.S. Army, but didn't serve in Iraq. However, after being discharged, he reportedly worked in Iraq as a contractor doing military support.

Authorities are trying to determine if Brown is more terrorist or troubled. Regardless, Jose Zengotita, a former New York cop, says, it was a good day for the TSA. (INAUDIBLE) through your mind yesterday?

ZENGOTITA: Actually no because I knew that we had to stop (INAUDIBLE) before he even got onto the plane.

CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Leading our political ticker, another huge month for Barack Obama, at least money wise. Obama's campaign says it raked in more than $40 million and almost half of the 442,000 donors were first time givers. The Democratic front runner is taking a break today from campaigning. Why wouldn't he? He's got all that cash.

We just learned also from campaign sources that Hillary Clinton raised $20 million last month. That's her second highest monthly take so far. That would sound great if I hadn't just told you about Barack Obama's $40 million. Well tonight, Clinton's raising money in Beverley Hills. A spokesman says the Obama campaign has outspent Clinton four to one in Pennsylvania, but he says the Clinton camp will have the cash it needs to compete.

And Barack Obama says if he's elected, he's considered Al Gore for a Cabinet post. Obama says the former vice president would play a central role in trying to solve global warming. He says he talks with Gore on a regular basis and consults him on climate change issues. Gore hasn't endorsed anybody.

White men with the blue collars, Democratic candidates for president want you, especially your white male blue collar in Pennsylvania.

CNN's Candy Crowley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The itinerary tells you all you need to know about the power voters in the Pennsylvania primary.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We visited steel mills and apparel factories and I played basketball with Bob Casey and I fed a cat milk. I visited a chocolate store/museum and I bowled. That didn't go so well.

CROWLEY: Political power in Pennsylvania this year is the working class vote.

CLINTON: This campaign is about you.

CROWLEY: And with Hillary Clinton expected to get most of the female vote and Barack Obama most of the African-Americans, Pennsylvania is more specifically about the white male working class vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White males are a group that are sort of still watching, still waiting, trying to decide who they're going to go for.

CROWLEY: And that explains all those visits to sheet metal plants and steel plants and diners and yes, bowling alleys and that's why the talk of the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia is about trade deals.

OBAMA: What I opposed and what I will always oppose are trade deals that put the interests of Wall Street ahead of the interests of American workers. That's why I opposed NAFTA. That's why I voted against capped (ph). That's why it didn't make sense to normalize trade relations with China. CROWLEY: And union power.

CLINTON: If anyone asks you if labor will have a seat at the table in my White House, I hope you know the answer. Of course you will. Labor built the table.

CROWLEY: The white male working class vote is roughly 27 percent of the Pennsylvania electorate, enough to make a difference in a race that now shows a shrinking gap between Clinton and Obama. Down from her double digit lead, Clinton still holds a nine point edge, in large part because she is beating Obama among whites, male and female, by 25 points.

He is closing the gap in part because he has picked up support among men. Obama was once 10 points behind with the male vote. He now polls about even. The battle continues with white male workers in the cat bird seat.

OBAMA: They don't just lose their job. They lose their pension. They lose their health care. They're trying to figure out how to make ends meet working at a $7, $8 an hour job at the local fast food joint or at Wal-Mart.

CLINTON: So when people ask me, what are the issues in this campaign, I say jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs.

CROWLEY: Twenty days until the Pennsylvania primary, so little time, so many work sites to visit.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And all the latest campaign news at your finger trips, go to CNNPolitics.com. We also have analysis from the best political team on television. That and more at CNNPolitics.com.

Doesn't this sound like just the coolest idea, U.S. returning to the moon. However, that's a lot easier said than done. We'll tell you about some issues NASA is having.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Derek Crook is not your average weekend kayaker. Earlier this year he met his match in the southern ocean off Tazmania, up ended by a 20-foot wave.

DEREK CROOK, KAYAKER: I decided to deploy my flare and activated my satellite messenger. And I just hung on to the boat until I was rescued.

M. O'BRIEN: The $170 spot tracking device knows where it is, using a global positioning system provided it can see the sky. For a hundred bucks a year, spot owners can transmit their position via satellite to anyone they choose.

They can simply send an OK message or help as in non life- threatening or 9-1-1. Snowmobilers Will Eisemann and Mike Kelly hit that button when they stalled one freezing night a long way from home.

VOICE OF WILL EISEMANN, SNOWMOBILER: Because we had that spot, we were able to get out of there in pretty good time. By 10:30 that night I was back in my house drinking a cold beer.

M. O'BRIEN: Spot has another handy feature for people who do risky things and worry their family and friends like flying small airplanes as I do. You push the OK button for a few seconds and the unit will send out automatically a trail of electronic bread crumbs over a 24-hour period.

I clipped spot to the visor as I flew from Indiana to New York and it reported my location dutifully and at the spot Web site, my wife could download a little peace of mind.

Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: We might have some trouble brewing with America's planned return to the moon. Of course, anything space related we've got to bring in our guy, Miles O'Brien. He's in New York.

Miles, we've been to the moon already. It should be easier the next couple times around. What's the problem here?

M. O'BRIEN: You would think it would be Alice, so to speak. Let's talk about the vehicle and the mission first. Then we'll get into some of the issues that the Government Accountability Office brought up in this report which is just out.

First of all, this is a model of the Aries One rocket. It kind of looks like a corn dog on a stick, doesn't it? But the NASA administrator has called this Apollo on steroids. What they did was they put sort of an Apollo capsule type thing called Orion at the top. Up to four astronauts can go there to the space station and maybe one day on to the moon if all goes well by 2020, and attached it to the solid rocket booster, a design, a modification of the solid rocket boosters used for the current space shuttle. This is the animation, to give you a sense of what they would do.

They ultimately would build a base camp on the moon, sort of a latter day version of the lunar module would land there. That is the concept to build this. The shuttle is going to retire in 2010. Maybe by 2020 do what you see there, T.J.

HOLMES: OK. In this report you were just mentioning, this government report, was it looking specifically at this new vehicle and found problems, what are the issues there they're pointing out?

M. O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at it. First of all, top line, let's give you kind of the quote from the report. The report from the Government Accountability Office gives us an indication that the program might be in trouble. It says there are considerable unknowns as to whether NASA plans for these vehicles can be executed within scheduled goals and what these efforts will ultimately cost, in other words, not on time and not under budget.

Take a look at the specifics. I'll run through them real quickly for you. It's kind of a laundry list of issues. It's overweight. There's an excessive vibration issue. There are problems with the engine design itself, no way to create the heat shields they need and there's testing issues.

So this makes it sound like they're in a world of hurt. I'll just show you, T.J., what they're talking about. They're talking about this oscillation issue. They call it pogo, where the rocket actually kind of does like a pogo go stick as it goes up. What happens is there's a natural acoustical wave here and if that happens to match the acoustics of the rocket motor, which it does in this case, it creates this. They're trying to come up with ways to solve these problems.

I just talked with several NASA administrators, they had a teleconference. I asked them, if all these issues in the Government Accountability Office report are issues that they would put as sort of normal problems for a program at this stage, they say yes. This is where we should be.

This is what engineers do at this stage in designing a rocket. And none of these are show-stoppers or put them behind schedule. So we'll have to see. The question is, does NASA have enough money to do this program in the time allotted? How much time also, T.J., are we going to send without any capability of sending Americans into space on an American rocket?

HOLMES: That's kind of standard stuff, not on time and over budget. That's any government project these days, isn't it? But again, isn't this what NASA does, you identify a problem and they fix it? They just work through these things, smart guys over there.

M. O'BRIEN: That's what these engineers are all about. That's what they just told me. They feel none of these problems are out of the realm of problems they would expect at this stage of a program. So how are you going to reconcile what the GAO says and what they say at this point, it's hard to say. Right now they say they see no-show- stoppers.

HOLMES: How much money quick? Do we know how much this thing is supposed to cost at least?

M. O'BRIEN: Billions and billions to quote Carl Sagan, the late great, billions and billions.

HOLMES: Miles O'Brien, always good to see you, kind sir.

Well folks, he's learned life lessons. Now he is learning his ABCs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, do you know Mrs. Hamilton, that you can look up at the grocery store and there are signs that tell you what's in that row?

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HOLMES: A 70-year-old goes to school and teaches something to everybody.

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HOLMES: Well, now time for us to see what people are checking out on CNN.com. A neighborhood in (INAUDIBLE) Pennsylvania remembers the hard working, close-knit family that lived in what remains of this house you're seeing there. It went up in flames early this morning, killing 10 people, nine of them were under the age of 20.

Also people online checking this story out. Never leave your car running and the door open and widget around. Five-year-old Cally Sipe (ph) of Marysville, Tennessee had to find this out the hard way. Widgets is the family pooch which ran over the little girl after jumping into the family's minivan and landing on the gas peddle. Everybody here is OK, however.

Alfred Williams of Missouri proves you're never too old. He once promised his mother he would learn to read. He's doing just that now as a first grader at the age of 70. That story, a whole lot more cnn.com.

We've got the closing bell, wrapping the action on Wall Street straight ahead.

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HOLMES: Well, Fenway Park in Boston has the green monster, of course. They also have the red-tailed monster. This red-tailed hawk caught on camera here attacking a young lady who was attending a game here in Fenway.

This was on Thursday. This was apparently a student who was attacked there, if you want to call it that. You can see her hair flying up. From all we know this person is OK, got her scalp scratched actually though, drew some blood which isn't a good thing, but still OK for the most part. A little something we caught on camera which we thought we'd pass along to you.

Closing bell about to ring on Wall Street now. Our Susan Lisovicz standing by with a final look at what's happening there.

Nobody's being attacked down there by anything but bad reports I guess.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right T.J. We think that red-tailed hawk was a Yankees fan. You know the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox don't exactly see eye to eye. T.J., we have a few seconds.

Let's talk about the music business, tough time in the music business, but not if you are Ms. Mariah Carey who can now boast her 18th number one single on the "Billboard's" top singles chart. That means she has surpassed the king himself, Elvis Presley. She's now, well, I don't know T.J., I think you have a better shot than this guy in the video, don't you think?

HOLMES: I'm glad you can say that. If you can dethrone the king, she is certainly the queen now. It's a good big deal.

LISOVICZ: She's second only to the Beatles. She's second only to the Beatles that have 20. She was very gracious when contacted. She said she can never really put herself in the category of people who have not only revolutionized music, but changed the world and so gracious from Ms. Carey.

HOLMES: And you know the name of her latest single.

LISOVICZ: I believe it's called "Touch My Body."

HOLMES: I just wanted to make you say that Susan.

LISOVICZ: Kind of says it all there and apparently a lot of people like T.J. What they don't like is the big jump in the unemployment claims that came out for last week. The biggest number since September of '05 which was the immediate aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

Tomorrow, we get the monthly jobs report, so kind of bad omen for that. We're expecting another decline but modest gains on the day. See you then T.J.

HOLMES: We will take it, Susan, thank you so much today.

And folks, it is now time for us to head over to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Suzanne Malveaux.

Take it away.

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